THANKS!  We would again like to thank all of those who participated in our last auction which ended March 23. The bidding was very active. We hope all the winners are happy with their pieces.We would also like to encourage feedback from all of you on our new look web site. We are trying to make your visits easy and fun. We know that a few of you had difficulty navigating the new auction site. We hope to rectify this for our next auction.

Our next auction is tentatively scheduled for mid June. There will be the usual heavy emphasis on display type items. Our August auction promises to be one of our best. We are going to incorporate some different types of memorabilia into this one including some great autographed pieces. We will feature a Babe Ruth single signed baseball and a Jackie Robinson/Roy Campanella signed ball. These two signatures on a ball are very difficult to find. Both balls come with PSA/DNA COA's. There will also be pennants, Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia and of course, a host of figural items. Keep an eye out and don't miss it.

QUESTION Here's a question from one of our Blog readers that has stumped us. If anyone knows anything about this football statue, please contact us.

My name is Chris D'Amico and I always enjoy reading your articles in SCD.  I recently came in possesion of a Clay Statue of a Football player that I can't identify and was wondering if you had ever seen one like this before.  It's about 8 inches tall and is leaning back with a look of terror on his face as if he's about to be tackled by the entire defense line.  There is a name and date (1973?) on the back of his right shoe that I can't quite make out.  If you have ever seen one of these before and have any information about who made these statues I would appreciate the information.  Thanks for your time and I look forward to reading your next article.

****************************************************************************************************

1963 HALL OF FAME BUSTS

This series may just be the most under-rated and under-valued figural items in the hobby today. The Hall of Fame busts were made and sold by the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in the early 60's. They are each an exact likeness of the busts used during the induction ceremonies. They are made of plastic and stand about 6 inches tall. Each bust has a plaque in the front of the base that gives the player's name and a short baseball biography. These statues were sold in handsome boxes that have simulated columns. The boxes were made to be used for display, although many collectors prefer to display them loose.

There were 20 players made and they were separated into two series of 10. The first series contained the busts of Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, Bill Dickey, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson. They are the first 10 players pictured on the back of each box.

The second series is considered harder to find. The player busts include Jackie Robinson, Hank Greenberg, George Sisler, Mickey Cochrane, Tris Speaker, Bob Feller, Joe Cronin, Jimmy Foxx, John McGraw and Paul Waner. The Foxx, Greenberg and McGraw are generally considered the hardest to find and can sell mint in the box for as much as $400to $500 each.

The box promised many more future busts, but unfortunately, the series stopped at these 20 busts. Like the Hartland statues, we can only imagine what other great busts would have been produced had this series continued.

If you have not yet started to collect these terrific busts, you might want to check them out. They display beautifully with Hartlands, bobbing heads and other figural sports items. They are also relatively inexpensive compared to other vintage sports memorabilia.